|
NWIL | I've got the attitude that I want to be in control of supplying my own feed needs.
While growing up I watched my dad make some hay, always think he had enough, and virtually every year start trying to find bales around the first of March to get him to first cutting. As he stepped out of the cow business and I started my own herd I made a vow to myself that I would figure out a way to produce enough feed on this farm to meet my needs. So far, so good. The inline wrapper has been a game changer in that I can produce the vast majority of my needs using triticale/sorghum sudangrass/oats, and have it as an emergency for what I intend to put up as dry alfalfa bales if plans don't work out. Throw in some good grass waterway bales and I'm set for the year, with the plan to make a little extra each year for the inevitable times when growth on both pasture and fields is below average (for here, that year was 2023).
Times like this where there are bales piled up all over the place and the price is low for them it can be real tempting to go all in with the plan to just buy it. But then again, in my relatively short career I can remember several times where the supplies were very short and junk round bales were going for sky high prices and there were bidding wars around baling waterways. Not a position I wanted to put myself in with my herd.
I will say that I do need to put up more bales then you do annual for my similar sized herd. Just a difference in how my operation is set up in the many different factors. I know the real cowmen likely turn up their nose at how I do things, but it is what it is after mixing the crops and cows operations together for my location, soils, labor, and economics.
Edited by j.p 8/28/2025 13:02
| |
|
Anybody Quit Baling Hay and Just Buy It?
